Samuel Rutherford (c.1600–1661) was one of Scotland’s most loved pastors and theologians. He served in Anwoth and was one of four Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly which drafted The Westminster Confession of Faith, our standard in Presbyterian churches worldwide. Rutherford’s deep love for Christ shines through in his famous letters, still widely read today. For a time, he was banished to Aberdeen because of his preaching and his loyalty to Presbyterian principles. While in exile, he continued to write many of his pastoral letters, turning hardship into an opportunity to encourage others. Rutherford’s life reminds us of the cost of faithfulness and the comfort of Christ’s presence in suffering.

“O what a fair One, what an only One, what an excellent, lovely One is Jesus! Put the beauty of ten thousand thousand worlds of paradises like the garden of Eden in one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colours, all tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness in one. O what a fair and excellent thing would that be! And yet it would be less, to that fair and dearest Well-beloved, Christ, than one drop of rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes and fountains of ten thousand earths. O, but Christ is heaven’s wonder, and earth’s wonder!

Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Aberdeen, 8 August 1637